Oct. 22, 2018 -- Roxboro Elementary School has a new pet hamster. And she arrived in a very special way for a very special reason.

Rox El kicked off its third year of One School, One Book on October 11 with a school-wide assembly, where students watched a video featuring an unnamed mystery creature as it tried to make its way from Forest Hills Park to Rox El, with stops at the Community Center, Mac’s Backs Books, Daylight Donuts, Tommy’s Restaurant and the Coventry Library along the way. 

Created by videographer Adam Dew and voiced by actor Claudia Zalevsky, both Rox El parents, the video highlighted many of the neighborhood spots that will play a role in the three-week long program where every child in the school reads the same book.

This year’s choice is The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, the first in a series of twelve books featuring class pet, Humphrey the Hamster. So what more natural connection than to purchase a pet hamster for the school? The hamster, whose name will be chosen as part of a school-wide contest, will spend one day in every classroom over the next three weeks giving all students the chance to care for her. At the end of One School, One Book, students – with a parent’s signature! – can apply for the job of becoming the hamster’s fulltime owner by detailing all they would do to take care of her.

 

This year’s OSOB planning committee, comprised of parents Mary Pat Jolivette and Clare Taft, teachers Liz McKinley, Monica Rogers and Candace Summers and Principal Shelley Pulling, wanted students to enjoy the act of reading in all the places they normally visit in the community. So they’ve planned six different evening events where children can listen to a chapter of The World According to Humphrey read aloud. These will take place at kid-friendly haunts located across the RoxEl boundaries to be easily accessible to all students: The Coventry Library, Appletree Books, Mac’s Backs Books, Picadilly Artisan Yogurt, and the Coventry Peace Park. Students are also invited to ask any librarian at the Coventry Branch to read a chapter aloud at any time during the three week project.

Other OSOB events include Family Literacy Night on October 17, which featured dinner, games, writing activities by Lake Erie Ink and raffles, including several sets of the book series donated by Appletree; Guest Reader Day on October 23; the Halloween Dance on October 25, with prizes for the best OSOB-themed costume; an opportunity to read aloud to therapy dogs on October 29; and the closing assembly on Halloween.

Students already had the pleasure of visiting with two very special guests at the kickoff assembly. Kyle Ringer, affectionately called Mr. Kyle by the kids, was a favorite lunch aide at Rox El last year and had the distinct honor of “revealing” the book title at the assembly. And beloved teacher Mrs. Kristi Glasier, who now teaches at Fairfax, surprised the students by reading aloud the first chapter to the whole school.

Students then returned to their classrooms to find their very own copy of The World According to Humphrey on their desks. The fact that the story, which focuses on seeing the world through other people’s eyes, is the first of a series made it an even better choice as it will hopefully spark enough interest to keep kids reading for a long time to come.